Young Artists in Portland

Not being able to attend the sensational Art Basel Miami Beach fair which got rolling this week, I stopped in the gallery-like space at the Pacific Northwest College of Art as an alternative.


The holiday "bazaar" is underway, featuring student art work for sale at relatively affordable prices. For art lovers in town, it is really worth a visit. One student artist, Sara Wallfisch, interested me because I just love the work of the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, and Wallfish has the potential to develop a similar mastery of silent, airy and pale still lifes of ordinary vessels. I'd spotted some of her urban landscape sketches on the main exhibit floor, and then was pleased to see that she had a small show running in an adjacent showroom.

But I also liked the "Mary had a little lamb" (my title, not artist's) drawing by another artist whose name escapes me now, regrettably. She had a few other drawings on the innocent lamb theme which were touching and trenchant at the same time.

I should highlight some of the other great student works on display, but can't get to it all. But now I'll be making regular stops at the school to see what else young artists are conjuring up.